Gradient-induced longitudinal relaxation of hyperpolarized noble gases in the fringe fields of superconducting magnets used for magnetic resonance

When hyperpolarized noble gases are brought into the bore of a superconducting magnet for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or spectroscopy studies, the gases must pass through substantial field gradients, which can cause rapid longitudinal relaxation. In this communication, we present a means of calculating this spatially dependent relaxation rate in the fringe field of typical magnets. We then compare these predictions to experimental measurements of (3)He relaxation at various positions near a medium-bore 2-T small animal MRI system. The calculated and measured relaxation rates on the central axis of the magnet agree well and show a maximum (3)He relaxation rate of 3.83×10(-3) s(-1) (T(1)=4.4 min) at a distance of 47 cm from the magnet isocenter. We also show that if this magnet were self-shielded, its minimum T(1) would drop to 1.2 min. In contrast, a typical self-shielded 1.5-T clinical MRI scanner will induce a minimum on-axis T(1) of 12 min. Additionally, we show that the cylindrically symmetric fields of these magnets enable gradient-induced relaxation to be calculated using only knowledge of the on-axis longitudinal field, which can either be measured directly or calculated from a simple field model. Thus, while most MRI magnets employ complex and proprietary current configurations, we show that their fringe fields and the resulting gradient-induced relaxation are well approximated by simple solenoid models. Finally, our modeling also demonstrates that relaxation rates can increase by nearly an order of magnitude at radial distances equivalent to the solenoid radius.     

MRI of the lung gas-space at very low-field using hyperpolarized noble gases

In hyperpolarized (HP) noble-gas magnetic resonance imaging, large nuclear spin polarizations, about 100,000 times that ordinarily obtainable at thermal equilibrium, are created in 3He and 129Xe. The enhanced signal that results can be employed in high-resolution MRI studies of void spaces such as in the lungs. In HP gas MRI the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) depends only weakly on the static magnetic field (B(0)), making very low-field (VLF) MRI possible; indeed, it is possible to contemplate portable MRI using light-weight solenoids or permanent magnets. This article reports the first in vivo VLF MR images of the lungs in humans and in rats, obtained at a field of only 15 millitesla (150 Gauss).     

惰性气体原子和离子在强激光场中的隧道电离

在隧道电离区域利用ADK模型并考虑了激光的体积效应,对惰性气体原子及各价离子在强激光场中的电离产额进行了计算,并与BSI模型及实验结果进行了比较,结果发现ADK模型的结果会随着原子序数的增加而变好,尤其对Xe离子,不需要进行强度转换就能给出很好的结果．由此可以得出结论：对于重原子（或离子）,用ADK模型得到的离子产额与实验结果符合得更好．最后通过分析ADK模型的适用范围,给出了和计算结果相一致的结论．     

Magnetic field dependence of impurity-induced muon depolarization in noble metals

We have measured the magnetic field dependence of the muon depolarization rate up to 5 kOe in AuGd (350 ppm), AgGd (340 ppm) and AgEr (300 ppm). A simple model which includes both dipolar and nearest-neighbor contact interactions between the muon and the magnetic impurity does not fit the data. An axial crystal-field interaction, arising from the electric field gradient induced by the muon at the site of the impurity, is found to dominate the Hamiltonian, and may have a large effect on the field dependence.Supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.Work performed at Sandia National Laboratories supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC04-76DP000789.     

On the strong field dependence and nonlinear response to gadolinium contrast agent of proton transverse relaxation rates in dairy cream

Dairy cream, as a suspension of lipid droplets in water, is a potentially useful magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) phantom material and an interesting material for studying fundamental relaxation mechanisms. Here we report a strong increase in the transverse relaxation rates with field strength for both the water and lipid protons in dairy cream. Also, studies at 4.7 T reveal a nonlinear response of transverse relaxation rates with increasing concentration of a common gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agent, including an initial decrease of water relaxation rates as measured with Hahn spin echoes at the lower Gd concentrations. The results are treated within the framework of a model in which the magnetic susceptibility difference between the lipid droplets and the aqueous phase plays the prominent role for transverse relaxation. Second-order polynomial fits of the water proton transverse relaxation rate dependence on field strength and on Gd concentration at 4.7 T provided experimental parameters from which model parameters are extracted and compared with expectations available from the literature.     

Free electron gas spectrum parameters of noble gases in dc electric field

Free electron gas is present in every gas, whether it is of atomic or molecular structure. Since the Maxwell spectrum type is the consequence of only thermal motion of constitutive gas particles; therefore, the presence of electric field leads to change the spectrum of charged particles due to their directed motion. However, it has been shown that in the case of occurrence only of elastic interactions between electrons and neutral gas particles (a condition that has been met in the case of weakly ionized noble gases of a relatively huge volume) the deviation of the gas spectrum of free electrons in the electric field from the Maxwell type is negligible. In such a case, the gas spectrum of free electrons is either of Maxwell type (if the frequency collision value is energy-independent) or of Druyvesteyn type (if the mean free electron path value is energy-independent). The Maxwell and Druyvesteyn distribution types are very similar. The only noticeable difference is that the tail of the Maxwell distribution decreases with the energy exponent to the first degree of energy, and the tail of Druyvesteyn distribution with the energy exponent to the second degree of energy. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the gas spectrum of free electrons in weakly ionized noble gases at small values of the product pd (pressure and inter-electrode distance) follows either the Maxwell's or Druyvesteyn's type, as well as to determine the dependence of spectrum parameters on the product pd. It has been established that better results are obtained on the assumption that the mean value of collision frequency is energy-independent.     

Spin relaxation of the8 S 7/2 ground state of europium in noble gases

Spin relaxation of the 4f ⁷ 6s ^{2 8} S _7/2 ground state of the Eu atom in noble gases was investigated by the direct, continuous optical pumping method. Transient signals could be observed by pulsed saturation of rf Zeeman transitions within theF= 6 hfs level of the stable Eu isotopes. The time constant of the transient signals can be related to the electronic spin depolarization cross section for Eu-noble gas collisions, yielding noble gas He Ne Ar Kr Xe σ₁in 10^?20 cm² 0.99(10) 5.1(5) 15(1.5) 43(4) 97(10) These cross sections exceed those measured forS-states of alkalies by three orders of magnitude. They can be explained by perturbations of theS-ground state configuration of Eu due to the admixture of excited state non-spherical wave functions.     

Motion dependence of myocardial transverse relaxation time in magnetic resonance imaging

We discuss the effects of motion on the computation of the myocardial transverse relaxation time by use of magnetic resonance imaging. Equations describing its behavior are derived and illustrated graphically under different conditions. It is shown that the myocardial transverse relaxation time calculated from magnetic resonance images depends on the actual myocardial transverse relaxation time ex vivo (T2) as well as the phase of the cardiac cycle in which it is computed, heart rate, cardiac wall velocity, choice of spin-echoes used in the calculation, and the spin-echo times employed. In particular, the error in T2 decreases when both the first and third echoes are employed in the calculation, rather than only the first two echoes. However, the myocardial transverse relaxation time is more strongly dependent on heart rate in the former case rather than in the latter. Furthermore, the error in T2, when both the first and second spin echoes are used in the calculation, is seen to increase as the spin-echo time shortens. On the other hand, the error in T2 decreases for shorter spin-echo times when both the first and third spin echoes are used instead. The results are relevant to the noninvasive assessment of ischemia, cardiac transplantation rejection, and other myocardial disorders.     

Theoretical and experimental investigation of holographic reconstruction and prediction of multi-source hybrid acoustic field

Recently, NAH has been developed as an efficient tool for noise identification, noise localization and acoustic field visualization. Compared with the traditional acoustic ra-diation calculation problem, the solving problem in the NAH is an inverse acoustic problem. By measuring partial acoustic field information, such as complex pressures or particle velocities on the hologram surface, but not the surface normal velocities of the vibrating body, the surface information can be reconstructed,…     

Effect of flow on the apparent transverse relaxation time in a microfluidic nuclear magnetic resonance chip

The detection of samples in a microfluidic nuclear magnetic resonance chip is generally performed under flow condition. To study the effect of sample flow on the apparent transverse relaxation time in a microfluidic nuclear magnetic resonance chip, theoretical calculations were performed on three microfluidic samples (including deionized water, absolute ethanol, and copper sulfate pentahydrate) for flow velocities in the range 1.7–25?mm/s. A microfluidic nuclear magnetic resonance device with a low cost microfluidic solenoid coil was fabricated to verify the theoretical calculations by experiments. The results show that the apparent transverse relaxation time of the sample is a monoexponential decay with respect to flow velocity. In addition, it was found that the experimental values and the theoretical values of the apparent transverse relaxation time are identical when the samples are prepolarized completely; but for the samples that are not prepolarized completely, all the experimental values are smaller than the theoretical values and their difference increases with the flow velocity of the sample. After further study, it was discovered that the relative error between the experimental values and the theoretical values is a monoexponential decay to the level of the sample to be prepolarized. This discovery is very useful, because it can be used to modify the theoretical calculation model of the apparent transverse relaxation time for the samples that are prepolarized incompletely, as well as improve the application of microfluidics on nuclear magnetic resonance.     

Onset of linear field dependence of the transverse magnetoresistance in a polycrystalline metal

The linear field dependence of the transverse magnetoresistance of a polycrystalline uncompensated metal with an open Fermi surface is said to arise from a contrast between extended and truly open orbits. We show that in the intermediate-field regime this is incorrect for Cu at least, where the linear dependence is initiated by the transition to the high-field condition of electrons in closed orbits.     

Ultra-low field NMR measurements of liquids and gases with short relaxation times

Interest in nuclear magnetic resonance measurements at ultra-low magnetic fields (ULF, approximately microT fields) has been motivated by various benefits and novel applications including narrow NMR peak-width, negligible susceptibility artifacts, imaging of samples inside metal containers, and possibility of directly imaging neuronal currents. ULF NMR/MRI is also compatible with simultaneous measurements of biomagnetic signals. However the most widely used technique in ULF NMR-prepolarization at high field and measurement at lower field-results in large transient signals which distort the free induction decay signal. This is especially severe for the measurement of signals from samples and materials with short T1 time. We have devised an approach that largely cancels the transient signals. The technique was successfully used to measure NMR signals from liquids and gases with T1 in the range 1-4 ms.     

Magnetic field dependence of the superconducting fluctuation contribution to NMR-NQR relaxation

The dependence of the Maki-Thompson and of the density of states (DOS) depletion contributions from superconducting fluctuations to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) relaxation is derived in the framework of the diagrammatic theory, applied to layered three-dimensional (3-D) high-T_c superconductors. The regularization procedure devised for the conductivity (A. I. Buzdin, A. A. Varlamov: Phys. Rev. B58, 14195, 1998) is used in order to avoid the divergence of the DOS term. The theoretical results are discussed in the light of NMR-NQR measurements in YBCO and compared with the recent theory (M. Eschrig et al.: Phys. Rev. B59, 12095, 1999), on the basis of the assumption of a purely 2-D spectrum of fluctuations.     

Magnetic field dependence of spin-spin relaxation in cerium- and neodymium magnesium nitrate

The magnetic field dependence of spin-spin-relaxation in R₂Mg₃(NO₃)₁₂·24H₂O monocrystals with R=Ce and¹⁴²Nd has been measured and ab-initio calculated. Experimental and theoretical results are in good agreement.     

Theoretical calculation of transport properties of the noble gases He and Ne and their binary mixtures at low density

Using the Tang-Toennies potential model and a set of expressions given by J. Kestinet al., we calculate the transport properties of the two noble gases He and Ne and of their binary mixtures, based upon the calculation of the interaction potential. Our calculated results for the transport properties are restricted to low densities but cover the full temperature interval extending from 50 K to the onset of ionization; the mole fraction of the binary mixtures isx ₁:x ₂=0.25:0.75. Our results are comparable to the best theoretical results given by J. Kestinet al.     

Magnetic field dependence of the spin relaxation rate in optically oriented mercury vapour

The magnetic field dependence of the relaxation rate of ¹⁹⁹Hg has been investigated at low fields in the presence of Ne or N₂. It is shown that there is a correlation time, in the interaction of the Hg nuclear spin with the walls, that is equal to the time between wall collisions. The diffusion coefficients of Hg into N₂ and Ne are evaluated, and the possibility of investigating other correlation times is discussed.